What is it you enjoy about having an RV or camper van? For me, it's the experience of camping, being out in the woods or mountains somewhere, preferably in some quiet spot by a lake or stream - not a campground or RV park. Sure, there's a spectrum of what you might call camping, with ultralight backpacking at one side, 60" diesel pushers with slide-outs at another end, and us somewhere in the middle with a 19' camper van with two little kids. We still want to get out camping, but backpacking isn't an option right now!
When I was a backpacker, I liked fairly minimal setups, and with my Mercedes Sprinter camper van, the same goes. I don't plan to end up anywhere with full hook-ups, so my preferred equipment is what makes you more independent. That's not typical of most North American RVs - walk on board and you'll see the typical triad of propane-powered appliances:
A 3-way (propane/AC/DC) refrigerator
A 2-burner propane cooktop
A propane furnace
Often RVs will have a microwave and coffee-maker too, just to be complete with every convenience. How "convenient" is it to need plug-ins or a generator running to power all this?
Conserving power (and money!) is especially important if you're building your own do-it-yourself camper van or RV conversion. If one of your key goals is to keep costs down, you can do this by eliminating expensive equipment and appliances typical of conventional RVs. How can we do this?
Pick The Best Camper Van Platform
Within the past five years, more and more motorhomes and RV conversions are being built on the Mercedes Sprinter chassis. For 2011, for example, the Mercedes Sprinter 3.0-liter V6 turbodiesel is rated at 188 bhp, with a peak power of 325 ft-lbs. of torque. Compared to other gasoline-powered vans, the Sprinter can offer more usable power and better fuel-efficiency, typically getting 18-22 mpg in actual use. And now that ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel is widely available across North America, it's pretty easy to get fuel almost anywhere.
With a Sprinter as your base for a camper van, you can buck the RV status quo - using propane. For the last several decades, North American motorhomes - from small camper vans to A, B and C-class RV conversions - have used propane to fuel camping equipment. There are good reasons why:
Propane was cheap and available everywhere
There are a huge number of choices in propane-powered RV appliances, and they're mostly very reliable
Nowadays, the price of propane is on the rise. And besides the increasing cost, using propane on your Sprinter RV is not without its drawbacks:
It requires a propane tank, typically mounted underneath the RV chassis, which reduces ground clearance and adds an enormous amount of weight
An open flame (from a propane stove, for example) can burn the inattentive and produce condensation on RV windows in cold weather
It's one more fuel source to manage, in addition to the fuel used by the RV
Do Without Propane
There's a new choice for RVs, especially if you have a Mercedes Sprinter - do without propane at all. Until very recently, there were no RV appliances available in North America powered by diesel - but that has now changed. If we return to the "triad" of equipment we talked about earlier, the choices look like this:
Cooktop - Webasto, the RV arm of the Finnish marine firm Wallas, now makes a 12-volt diesel-powered ceramic-topped cooktop especially for RV use. The two-burner X100 cooktop has no open flame, uses the same diesel from the Sprinter's fuel tank, and even includes altitude settings.
Heat - For interior heat, you can choose between Webasto's AirTop or Espar's Airtronic 12V diesel-powered air heaters, much more compact than many propane furnaces and possibly quieter, especially with a muffler option. Air heaters will also not ever corrode, unlike hydronic heaters.
Refrigeration - Many 12V DC RV refrigerators are on the market that use the extremely-efficient Danfoss sealed compressor, including models by Engel and Novakool, among others.
But How Do We Get By Without Shore Power?
Well, you say, if we cut out propane, we need more electric power, especially for refrigeration. You're right, but if you follow a design strategy of conservation, you can cut power use enormously in your Sprinter camper. This means tactics like:
Power System - Plan for a 12V DC power system for your Sprinter RV conversion. Not incorporating a hardwired inverter will save you a lot of money, and if you really need clean AC power for small loads (like charging a laptop computer), you can buy small inverters that plug into any 12V outlet
Lights - Use LED rather than incandescent, and get the lowest-power types that meet your lighting needs. However, check the lumen output and the spectrum (choose "warm" or "daylight") to ensure you get LED lights that work well in your van.
Microwave - Ditch it, and ditto for the home-size electric coffee-maker. Are you really that short on time when you're camping? Microwaves use an enormous amount of power, so they're great for homes, not camper vans.
Solar - No, it's not conservation, but you need another power source - one that's quiet and reliable. Get some solar panels, preferably 2-4 mounted on the roof of your Sprinter, and an appropriate solar charge controller and good AGM batteries. Having a good solar system, not just a trickle charger, is essential if you want to do without propane, hook-ups or a generator. There's more to a good RV solar system than just these few words, but that's material for another article.
I hope you'll think about building a do-it-yourself Mercedes Sprinter camper van or RV conversion, and the arguments I've laid out for just using diesel-powered appliances and solar, without propane or a generator. It will save you money, and give you the independence to camp anywhere in your Sprinter - what's not to like about that?
